The init or initdb mode creates a new PostgreSQL database cluster. A database cluster is a collection of databases that are managed by a single server instance. This mode invokes the initdb command. See initdb(1) for details.

In start mode, a new server is launched. The server is started in the background, and its standard input is attached to /dev/null (or nul on Windows). On Unix-like systems, by default, the server's standard output and standard error are sent to pg_ctl's standard output (not standard error). The standard output of pg_ctl should then be redirected to a file or piped to another process such as a log rotating program like rotatelogs; otherwise postgres will write its output to the controlling terminal (from the background) and will not leave the shell's process group. On Windows, by default the server's standard output and standard error are sent to the terminal. These default behaviors can be changed by using -l to append the server's output to a log file. Use of either -l or output redirection is recommended.

In stop mode, the server that is running in the specified data directory is shut down. Three different shutdown methods can be selected with the -m option. lqSmartrq mode waits for all active clients to disconnect and any online backup to finish. If the server is in hot standby, recovery and streaming replication will be terminated once all clients have disconnected. lqFastrq mode (the default) does not wait for clients to disconnect and will terminate an online backup in progress. All active transactions are rolled back and clients are forcibly disconnected, then the server is shut down. lqImmediaterq mode will abort all server processes immediately, without a clean shutdown. This will lead to a crash-recovery run on the next restart.

restart mode effectively executes a stop followed by a start. This allows changing the postgres command-line options. restart might fail if relative paths specified were specified on the command-line during server start.

reload mode simply sends the postgres process a SIGHUP signal, causing it to reread its configuration files (postgresql.conf, pg_hba.conf, etc.). This allows changing of configuration-file options that do not require a complete restart to take effect.

status mode checks whether a server is running in the specified data directory. If it is, the PID and the command line options that were used to invoke it are displayed. If the server is not running, the process returns an exit status of 3. If an accessible data directory is not specified, the process returns an exit status of 4.

In promote mode, the standby server that is running in the specified data directory is commanded to exit recovery and begin read-write operations.

kill mode allows you to send a signal to a specified process. This is particularly valuable for Microsoft Windows which does not have a kill command. Use --help to see a list of supported signal names.

register mode allows you to register a system service on Microsoft Windows. The -S option allows selection of service start type, either lqautorq (start service automatically on system startup) or lqdemandrq (start service on demand).

unregister mode allows you to unregister a system service on Microsoft Windows. This undoes the effects of the register command.

OPTIONS

-c
--core-file

Attempt to allow server crashes to produce core files, on platforms where this is possible, by lifting any soft resource limit placed on core files. This is useful in debugging or diagnosing problems by allowing a stack trace to be obtained from a failed server process.

-D datadir
--pgdata datadir

Specifies the file system location of the database configuration files. If this is omitted, the environment variable PGDATA is used.

-l filename
--log filename

Append the server log output to filename. If the file does not exist, it is created. The umask is set to 077, so access to the log file is disallowed to other users by default.

-m mode
--mode mode

Specifies the shutdown mode. mode can be smart, fast, or immediate, or the first letter of one of these three. If this is omitted, fast is used.

-o options

Specifies options to be passed directly to the postgres command; multiple option invocations are appended.

The options should usually be surrounded by single or double quotes to ensure that they are passed through as a group.

-o initdb-options

Specifies options to be passed directly to the initdb command.

The options should usually be surrounded by single or double quotes to ensure that they are passed through as a group.

-p path

Specifies the location of the postgres executable. By default the postgres executable is taken from the same directory as pg_ctl, or failing that, the hard-wired installation directory. It is not necessary to use this option unless you are doing something unusual and get errors that the postgres executable was not found.

In init mode, this option analogously specifies the location of the initdb executable.

-s
--silent

Print only errors, no informational messages.

-t
--timeout

The maximum number of seconds to wait when waiting for startup or shutdown to complete. Defaults to the value of the PGCTLTIMEOUT environment variable or, if not set, to 60 seconds.

-V
--version

Print the pg_ctl version and exit.

-w

Wait for the startup or shutdown to complete. Waiting is the default option for shutdowns, but not startups. When waiting for startup, pg_ctl repeatedly attempts to connect to the server. When waiting for shutdown, pg_ctl waits for the server to remove its PID file. This option allows the entry of an SSL passphrase on startup. pg_ctl returns an exit code based on the success of the startup or shutdown.

-W

Do not wait for startup or shutdown to complete. This is the default for start and restart modes.

-?
--help

Show help about pg_ctl command line arguments, and exit.

Options for Windows

-e source

Name of the event source for pg_ctl to use for logging to the event log when running as a Windows service. The default is PostgreSQL. Note that this only controls the logging from pg_ctl itself; once started, the server will use the event source specified by event_source. Should the server fail during early startup, it might also log using the default event source PostgreSQL.

-N servicename

Name of the system service to register. The name will be used as both the service name and the display name.

-P password

Password for the user to start the service.

-S start-type

Start type of the system service to register. start-type can be auto, or demand, or the first letter of one of these two. If this is omitted, auto is used.

-U username

User name for the user to start the service. For domain users, use the format DOMAIN\username.

ENVIRONMENT

PGCTLTIMEOUT

Default limit on the number of seconds to wait when waiting for startup or shutdown to complete. If not set, the default is 60 seconds.

PGDATA

Default data directory location.

pg_ctl, like most other PostgreSQL utilities, also uses the environment variables supported by libpq (see Section 31.14, lqEnvironment Variablesrq, in the documentation). For additional server variables, see postgres(1).

FILES

postmaster.pid

The existence of this file in the data directory is used to help pg_ctl determine if the server is currently running.

postmaster.opts

If this file exists in the data directory, pg_ctl (in restart mode) will pass the contents of the file as options to postgres, unless overridden by the -o option. The contents of this file are also displayed in status mode.

EXAMPLES

Starting the Server

To start the server:

$ pg_ctl start

To start the server, waiting until the server is accepting connections:

$ pg_ctl -w start

To start the server using port 5433, and running without fsync, use:

$ pg_ctl -o "-F -p 5433" start

Stopping the Server

To stop the server, use:

$ pg_ctl stop

The -m option allows control over how the server shuts down:

$ pg_ctl stop -m fast

Restarting the Server

Restarting the server is almost equivalent to stopping the server and starting it again, except that pg_ctl saves and reuses the command line options that were passed to the previously running instance. To restart the server in the simplest form, use:

$ pg_ctl restart

To restart the server, waiting for it to shut down and restart:

$ pg_ctl -w restart

To restart using port 5433, disabling fsync upon restart:

$ pg_ctl -o "-F -p 5433" restart

Showing the Server Status

Here is sample status output from pg_ctl:

$ pg_ctl status
pg_ctl: server is running (PID: 13718)
/usr/local/pgsql/bin/postgres "-D" "/usr/local/pgsql/data" "-p" "5433" "-B" "128"

This is the command line that would be invoked in restart mode.

SEE ALSO